Mothers charged after boy, 2, saved from Philadelphia roof
May 5, 2015, 11:31 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two mothers have been charged after a toddler was rescued from the roof of a three-story home.
Police and firefighters rushed to the third floor of the northeast Philadelphia home around 1:30 p.m. Monday after residents spotted the 2-year-old boy on the steep slope wearing only a diaper.
An official pulled him to safety through a third-story window just as firefighters erected a ladder. A 1-year-old boy trying to climb out the window also was rescued.
A neighbor, Jacob Durant, said the crowd gathered below the home kept talking to the 2-year-old, trying to get him to stop moving around on the roof.
“I’m just thinking how crazy this is, like, I just couldn’t believe I’m seeing all this,” Durant said Tuesday. “Where’s the parents? What’s going on? How could the baby possibly be on the roof? Why would you leave the window open?”
Police said the toddlers had been left home alone. Both mothers were charged with child endangerment and reckless endangerment.
The 2-year-old’s mother, 22-year-old Cleaira Bell, is charged as an adult. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. The younger child’s 17-year-old mother is charged as a juvenile.
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